The Grind

Weldon Solutions' Blog

Posts Tagged ‘weldon cnc grinders’

A new Weldon model AGN4 angular wheeled CNC grinder has been delivered to an aerospace contract facility in sunny Southern California, for grinding a variety of commercial and military aircraft components. Machine qualification was based on Weldon’s ability to successfully grind difficult to cut alloys, such as RENE-41. Special thanks to our west coast representative, Tornquist Machinery, for their efforts to secure this business with a new customer, and for excellent followup after the sale.

A South Carolina based power transmission company adds another Weldon model 324S Midas angular wheeled CNC Grinder to their grinding department. This fully automated cell features a Jenoptik optical gage for post-process inspection, providing feedback to a Movomatic in-process gage for automatic control of size tolerance to under 10 microns, and dramatically reducing both set-up and change-over time.

A major rotary bearing manufacturer called on Weldon to build a roller OD grinder for a large bearing family. The machine features an X-axis linear motor for smooth transitions when grinding the crowned OD with a convex grinding wheel face in a single pass profile interpolation cycle. This allows grinding of all part numbers with the same tooling.

A New England based fire arms company chose Weldon Solutions for a dual spindle ID grinder application. Up to three (3) IDs are ground per cycle using vitrified CBN abrasives. Although arranged for manual loading, the machine has been built “automation ready” with plans for future addition of a robotic tending system and dual pallet station.

A major Ohio based sheet-metal punch manufacturer has added another Weldon model 1632 GOLD to their equipment list. This newest machine features a high-speed control system, custom software, and an X-axis linear motor, that together resulted in productivity increases of better that 80%. Notable was that the higher productivity was accomplished at a quality level exceeding current standards. In this application, punches are ground “from solid” using vitrified CBN abrasives. This eliminates the normal pre-milling to remove the bulk of the stock, eliminates the need to radially locate from a preshape to establish C-axis position, reduces work-in-progress inventory, and shortens the lead time for manufacturing.

A mid-western manufacturer selects the Weldon P175 for automated flat grinding, deburring, and laser engraving on cylindrical parts. The parts are presented via a dual pallet station, and loaded with a floor mounted Fanuc M10i-TD robot. Custom end-ofarm tooling is used to load the part into a 4” pneumatic sliding jaw chuck. A post-process gage communicates with the Fanuc CNC for size compensation on a trend basis. The fully automated cycle under gage control can produce roughly 67 parts per hour.

Weldon Solutions hosted an Open House at their CNC Grinder manufacturing facility on Thursday, July 23, 2015. The theme for this year’s event was “Automate – Innovate – Educate”.

This year’s Open House garnered over 200 attendees from local, regional and national businesses. More than 50 local engineers attended a series of continuing education seminars hosted throughout the day.

The Open House was held throughout the facility with the shop floor hosting much of the display space, including 7 CNC Cylindrical Grinders demonstrating OD and ID grinding, 12 Robots with payloads ranging from 1 to 350 pounds demonstrating a broad range of robotic and machine vision capabilities and 4 allied component suppliers with table-top displays. There was also a 3-D Printer creating parts through additive manufacturing.

Additionally, York area students from the TechFire 225 team demonstrated their award winning robot from the F.I.R.S.T. (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics League. Tech Fire is a collaboration of York County students.

Immediately following the event, the Manufacturers Association of South-central PA (MASCPA) mixer allowed leaders of regional manufacturing firms to learn more about Weldon Solutions and the technologies that we use in our grinding and automation systems.

A major Aerospace Component Supplier selected Weldon Solutions for precision OD, radius, and shoulder grinding turnkey for proprietary work parts. This Weldon model AGN4 incorporates a full turnkey for over forty different part numbers. Machine tending automation features a 6-axis robot and a dual pallet tray system for part presentation and exit.

Vitrified CBN abrasives are used in this application, conditioned with a Weldon design ring dresser mounted on the work head spindle.

Straight oil coolant was specified for maximum wheel life. A chiller is included to address thermal variations and a fire suppression system is included for safety.

An Ohio based producer of rod steel accepted delivery of a new Weldon model 1632 GOLD OD CNC grinder. In this application a carbide mill roll is supported by a heavy duty slip-fit arbor assembly. A full radius plated diamond grinding wheel is used to either plunge or CNC profile grind grooves in the circumference. The machine is also capable of OD topping and groove regrinds as necessary.

An automative steering gear manufacturer receives two new Weldon Solutions model 320S Midas peel grinders to perform finish grinding operations on various work shafts and racks.

Weldon’s automation set-up on this system incorporates a heavy-duty 2-axis gantry load and unload, dual gripper tooling with a pneumatic coupling for crash protection and a powered loop conveyor with puck system for part presentation and exit.